A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cloud. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but they are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Tornadoes are traditionally rated on the Fujita scale or, more recently, the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale. In accordance with the EF scale, tornadoes are rated as follows:
RatingWind Speed (MPH)Typical Damage To A StructureEF-065-85Little substantial damage, e.g., maybea few shingles from the roofEF-1 86-110Far more damage than EF-O, e.g.,more roof shingles will be removedEF-2111-135Substantial damage, e.g., entire roofswill be removed, and the structuremay even be moved slightlyEF-3136-165Significant damage, e.g., entire roofswill be removed as well as exteriorwalls will cave inwardEF-4166-200Extensive damage, e.g., interior wallswill cave inward including those ofclosets and bathroomsEF-5Over 200Complete devastation, e.g., the entirestructure is destroyed and removedwith only the slab being left
Tornado protection devices are conventionally available and they often provide a level of physical protection from the effects of a tornado. For example, some tornado protection devices include a ‘safe room’ or equivalent space within a house such as in a dedicated protected area of a building, or more likely, buried below ground. While these conventional devices and systems are able to provide a high level of protection, they are very expensive, often costing several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. As a result, this price range acts to exclude a vast majority of people who could benefit from tornado protection devices.
In addition to the expense, other drawbacks of conventional devices are that they are cumbersome, they require installation in fixed locations and cannot be moved as a user might desire, and they often occupy space that could be used for other purposes. An example of a conventional tornado protection device includes a work bench tornado safe room, which provides a work-bench structure that users can climb into for protection during a tornado. Another example is a security vault device that includes components that can be transported to a construction site. This vault, however, requires the assembly of permanently affixing the components together to form a non-transportable system. Other types of ground shelters have also been proposed, where the shelters are located below a ground surface, thus making them impractical for simple transportability.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.